How Differentials Work

Open Differentials

We will start with the simplest type of differential, called an open differential. First we'll need to explore some terminology: The image below labels the components of an open differential.

When a car is driving straight down the road, both drive wheels are spinning at the same speed. The input pinion is turning the ring gear and cage, and none of the pinions within the cage are rotating -- both side gears are effectively locked to the cage.

Animation courtesy Geebee's Vector Animations

Note that the input pinion is a smaller gear than the ring gear; this is the last gear reduction in the car. You may have heard terms like rear axle ratio or final drive ratio. These refer to the gear ratio in the differential. If the final drive ratio is 4.10, then the ring gear has 4.10 times as many teeth as the input pinion gear. See How Gears Work for more information on gear ratios.

When a car makes a turn, the wheels must spin at different speeds.

Animation courtesy Geebee's Vector Animations

In the figure above, you can see that the pinions in the cage start to spin as the car begins to turn, allowing the wheels to move at different speeds. The inside wheel spins slower than the cage, while the outside wheel spins faster.

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